Dana Marie's Country Living Blog

Look how cute my latest project turned out! Little trick or treat pails made from cans. I made them out of my dogs' food cans, some paint, some cinnamon to make them look rusted and old, Mod Podge® and some printables I found on the Internet. Super cute fun project!! ~ Dana Little Trick-or-Treat Pails Supplies used tin cans acrylic paint ground cinnamon, etc. vintage labels Mod Podge® raffia tissue paper candy vintage tags Instructions 1 . First, remove the original labels from the cans and wash them thoroughly. Dog food cans are a nice size, but you can use whatever size you have. I run mine through the dishwasher.  2 . When the cans are clean and dry, paint them with whatever color you want and let dry. Usually they will need 2-3 coats of paint. 3 . Select some vintage images for your labels.  You can find them on Pinterest® by searching for "vintage Halloween printables" or "vintage Halloween labels." And you can buy them on Etsy here . For dog food-sized can...

I have a story about Babybel ®  cheese. Lately I have been buying the big packs to put in the lunches that I meal-prep for. I got to thinking about the wax. Could you melt the wax into a candle? I often bring Babybel ®  cheese to work with me and share it with the little girl I take care of. One day I said, "You know what? We should try making candles from this wax." Well it turned into a fun project, saving all the wax for a couple of weeks. Her parents even went out and bought some so we could get as many as possible. It helps to have some extras in case you need them for your jar size. On the big day, we melted the wax down in a double boiler and added cinnamon scent to it. Then we set a wick in the jar and poured the melted wax in. We let it set up for about an hour and voila! A pretty red candle that smells good. I thought I'd better look up what was in the wax of Babybel ®  cheese before we burned it. And what do you know - it's actually a thing scientists have ...

Here's a repurposing idea for you - plant flowers in an old firepit.   I have had this firepit for about 13 years now. There is nothing I love more than an outdoor fire on summer evenings. But a few years ago, my son the firefighter said, "No fires this year, Mom. It's not worth it."  Even here in Washington, summers can be very hot! So I took his advice. I don't want a spark to go up and catch a neighbor's tree on fire. Yikes!! That would be very bad. Definitely don't need that in my life. It got me thinking about what to do with my cute little fire pit. Sell it? Well no, I really do love it and I might be able to use it again someday. Then a light bulb went off in my head. Until the day I can use it again, why not make it a planter? So that's what I did, and it turned out pretty cute! Since the firepit didn't have holes in the bottom, I filled it about 1/4 of the way up with rocks to provide drainage for the plants. If you want to drill holes in ...

I made these adorable Spring planters out of my dogs' food cans, some paint, some instant coffee and cinnamon to make them look rusted and old, Mod Podge® and some printables I found on the Internet. I placed rocks in the bottoms of the cans for drainage, dug up some pansies from my garden, then added potting soil to plant the pansies in. Now I have these sweet little planters for just pennies. Once the cans are made, you can use them for whatever you wish. I made mine Spring themed because of what time of year it is, but you can make them for all the seasons. My next project is to come up with some herb labels and plant herbs to go on my kitchen window sill.     Tin Can Planters Supplies used tin cans acrylic paint sandpaper (optional) Elmer's® glue instant coffee powder ground cinnamon vintage labels Mod Podge® pebbles potting soil Instructions 1 . First, remove the original labels from the cans and wash them thoroughly. Dog food cans are a nice size, but you can use whateve...